Saturday Knight’s alright for fightin’

On Saturday night just passed, I spent some time playing some local multiplayer games, which I do most weekends with my partner. After divulging some time into Rocket League, idarb and even some splitscreen Ark: Survival Evolved, we decided to venture onto something new. Knight Squad. Why didn’t I play this sooner?!!

Knight Squad is available on both Steam and Xbox One. It was free with Games with Gold between November and December, and hopefully you all downloaded it at the time and have it in your libraries. A PlayStation 4 release has yet to happen, although the developer Chainsawesome Games have said on a Steam post that they were considering it. The studio only have two games under their belt, with the other being Beatblasters III.

Knight Squad is something that didn’t grab my attention at the time, but oh how I regret it. Taking a simple formula of the likes of Bomberman or Gauntlet, it’s a 1 to 8 player single screen top down competitive game. All you need to use is your left stick and any of the face buttons on the controller. They all do the same thing. After that, it’s just a case of getting out there and having fun in the game’s many varying game modes. It’s perfect with a group of friends locally or online.

Game modes include the likes of straight up free for all and Team Deathmatch, where you just have to accumulate the most kills to win. It’s one hit kills, with power-ups such as faster movement, horses, cross bows, bombs, miniguns and lasers. Yes, miniguns and lasers. In a medieval multiplayer game!

Other modes include:

Crystal Rush – Both teams must defend their crystals while also destroying the opponent’s crystals. You can only damage them using the Drill pick-up.

Capture the Grail – Both teams rush to capture the other team’s grail. Same as in any other capture the flag mode. You get the idea.

Domination – This one is fun, and similar to a mode you’d find in a shooter as well. Hold all objective points to gain points. At the end of the round, whichever team grabs the most points are crowned the winners.

Soccer – This is the first one I tried because I know football. Two teams, a ball, and swords. Again, loads of pickups, loads of deaths, very few goals scored. Nudging the ball in the direction of the goal while trying to avoid death is frantic!

Juggernaut – This one is good fun too. All players rush to get the minigun, and it’s a devastating weapon. Kill the user and use it yourself until you’re inevitably killed. Rinse and repeat. The most Juggernaut kills wins the game.

Last Man Standing – Another simple idea used to great effect. Last man standing in an 8 player battle, fought over three rounds.

Gladiator – Gladiator is like King of the Hill, although multiple players can gain points while standing in the area, you don’t want to share the points, so it’s a bloodbath in the marked territory. Most points gained, wins.

Another point worth mentioning is that each mode has a bunch of maps to play on too. Even the soccer pitch can be changed aesthetically, but all other modes have varying map layouts that keep the gameplay fresh and interesting.

The game retails for $14.99 and is a blast with friends. The pickups are hilarious, and it can get very competitive. Each knight character is colour-coded, and with their own personality. Other than that, they all handle and play the same. If you have a bunch of friends coming over, get them to bring their controllers over, or just hop online and host a game for all to join.

There is also a DLC pack which adds new characters and four new game modes which I haven’t invested in. That will set you back $4.99, but if you want to feel like you’re getting the most out of the game, take part in the challenges which unlocks three other characters, and offers a few more hours of gameplay.

If you happen to have Knight Squad in your games library and have yet to give it a blast, do yourself a favour and try it out today. You won’t regret it!